1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to connector assemblies, and more particularly, to adaptive connector assemblies which are capable of connecting two conduits which are "off-axis".
2. Description of Related Art
There are a number of piping systems that use reinforced rubber hoses to join the ends of pipe or pipes to short nipples that are affixed to some device which must be connected to the piping system. Rubber hoses and hose clamps used to secure the hose on the piping system have been in use for many years.
In situations where two devices are to be "connected", and there is a relative movement between the devices, use of a flexible hose to join the two devices makes practical sense.
However, there is another situation where the two devices do not move relative to each other, but hoses, clamps and sometimes pipe links are used to join those devices. In this situation, a hose is used because of the difficulty of making a pipe that routes between two devices which can meet the connection requirements at the joining points. Disclosed herein is an "accommodating sealing sleeve" that will replace the hoses and claims because it will lock onto the end of a standard nose nipple. The accommodating sealing sleeve provides a seal and accommodation for variations in the joining pipes which made the hose and hose clamps necessary in the past.
This accommodating sealing sleeve also conveys some important advantages to the manufacturer of engines or equipment that would use such accommodating sealing sleeves. Due to the confined nature of automobile engines, there is often very little room to replace hoses and tighten clamps. Difficult to reach areas tend to result in many problems, such as wrongly locating the clamp or improperly torquing the clamp, and thus tend to result in increased manufacturing and service costs.
There is also a relatively large time requirement to "make" a proper joint. When an accommodating sealing sleeve is shipped on the pipe ready to be installed, the accommodating sealing sleeve is slid back on the pipe. To make the connection it is only necessary to position the pipe and slide the sleeve onto the mating hose nipple until the nipple's bead passes by the adaptive seal lead-in portion. When the nipple is aligned within the sealing sleeve at a certain point, a lot more force is required to slide the accommodating sealing sleeve further off of the pipe and onto the nipple. This in turn informs the operator that the accommodating sealing sleeve is in the proper position. Generally, this sliding connection is much faster than installing a length of hose and clamping the hose onto the nipple.
If replacement of an accommodating sealing sleeve is necessary, the user also has the option of replacing the old sealing sleeve with a new sealing sleeve or sliding the old sealing sleeve back onto the piping system and attaching a hose and clamps. This facilitates replacement of the parts in the field.
The figures show an embodiment of the adaptive pipe connection which tends to have low tooling costs for a large variety of sizes and a means of obtaining a very large (relative to industry practice) accommodation of co-axial mis-match and off-axis alignment of the pipe and nipple ends.
It is the primary object of the present invention to provide an accommodating sealing sleeve which allows for sealing one end of a pipe to a nipple even if the connection is somewhat off axis.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an accommodating sealing sleeve which selectively locks the pipe to the nipple.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an accommodating sealing sleeve which is ready to be installed and gives rise to quick "field" repairs.